Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. Boosts Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 18.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,870 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,876 shares during the quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $3,842,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% during the second quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth $28,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth $29,000. Finally, MTM Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on PANW. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Wolfe Research raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective (up previously from $228.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $229.09.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $190.85 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.15 and a fifty-two week high of $223.61. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $192.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $195.89. The stock has a market cap of $133.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 120.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.50 and a beta of 0.76.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 11.69% and a return on equity of 17.05%. The company had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.56 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total transaction of $23,070,311.04. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 298,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $57,096,383.61. This trade represents a 28.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total value of $2,441,625.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 75,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,685,690.72. This trade represents a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 382,016 shares of company stock valued at $76,386,460 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next‑generation firewalls as a core on‑premises capability, alongside cloud‑delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.